Halifax NA632 at Dishforth airfield.
On 15th January 1945 the crew of this 1664 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft undertook a night bombing training exercise. They took off from Dishforth airfield at 19.15hrs. The exact course of events after taking off is not yet known. By 20.30hrs the crew had already made five unsucessful attempts at landing at Dishforth airfield, on the sixth attempt they landed too fast and ran off the runway into a pole. The port undercarriage collapsed and the aircraft came to rest with both port engines damaged.
William Chorley's Bomber Command Losses book for this incident has many errors. NA632 did not crash at Rufforth but Dishforth as he claims. This crew were posted to 408 Squadron on 23rd January 1945. They were made a PoW on 31st March 1945 when Halifax NP806 was shot down on Ops to Hamburg, possibly by an Me262. All the crew became PoWs. The pilot subsequently wrote a book "Cradle Crew" about his experiences.
Pilot - F/O Kenneth Keane Blyth RCAF (J/39627).
Navigator - F/O James M Taylor RCAF (J/40688).
Bomb Aimer - F/O R Darrell Atkinson RCAF (J/40340).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Adam A Watson RCAF (R/250570).
Air Gunner - Sgt John Brock Folkersen RCAF (R/218523).
Air Gunner - Sgt Raymond J Hughes RCAF (R/282244).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Douglas G Grey RCAF (R/219880).
Halifax NA632 was built by Fairey Aviation and was delivered as new to 420 Squadron on 2nd September 1944. It was then transferred to 1664 Heavy Conversion Unit on 2nd December 1944. As a result of the accident on 15th January 1945 repairable Cat.Ac/FA damage was the initial damage assessment that saw a team from Handley Page begin a repair on site three days later. With the repairs underway internal damage must have been found as the damage assessment was upgraded to Re.Cat.B on 26th February 1945 and it was transported by road to the Handley Page repair depot at York three days later. The aircraft must have then sat in an unrepaired state and was further upgraded to Re.Cat.E damage on 23rd May 1945. The aircraft was then struck off charge on 5th July 1945.